Last month, the second cohort of Launchpad
Accelerator, Google’s high-touch global program for late-stage startups,
came and conquered their app challenges with the help of mentors at Google HQ.

What did they learn that they’d like to share with developers across the world?
Check out the video below for solutions from 3 different startups, and an
in-depth review of MagicPin’s mobile web challenge and solution.

Startup:

MagicPin
from India is a social network app that curates a local user base around locations,
allowing merchants to connect with these specific audiences.

Mobile web challenge:

In India, downloading an app requires a high commitment. On average a user would
keep 5 or 6 apps on their phone. According to Anshoo Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO,
MagicPin, “If you want to be the next app that they download, there is a high
barrier.”

Jordan Adler, Google Developer Advocate: “Devices in markets like India have
limited space--on average 128 MB of memory--and when you add in system features
only 40 bytes of user space is left. And if a typical APK is a few megabytes,
you can only have a few apps before you have to stop downloading.”

Solution:

Jordan Adler: “One of the great things about Progressive Web Apps is you don’t
have to request the commitment (to download an app) upfront. You can start to
build a relationship with the user through the web interface, and over time the
web app can become more like a native app, it can be housed on a device, cache
content and work offline.”

Anshoo Sharma: “In the last 1.5 weeks we have been here we have already launched
a micro version of our platform on Progressive Web Apps. And the experience is
great! Without using the (mobile) app people can get as good an experience.”

About Launchpad Accelerator

Launchpad
Accelerator is a six-month accelerator that enables late-stage app startups
from emerging markets to successfully scale. Here's a two-minute video about the
Accelerator.